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The Independent Man (courtesy megmcmahon.com @ flikr.com)

Earlier today I told Lola we’re moving to Texas. My nine-year-old took it about as well as could be expected: she swore at me. Which was something of a shock. Which is not how I’d characterize my reaction to news that Rhode Island legislators will introduce nine new pieces of gun control legislation on Tuesday. rigunblog.com rightly reckons the gun ban bills will mirror New York’s SAFE Act and Connecticut’s Gun Violence Prevention and Children’s Safety Act. We’re talking “high capacity” magazine and modern sporting rifle bans, new registration requirements, universal background checks, etc. A state whose constitution enshrines the right to keep and bear arms, a state that owes its existence to Roger Williams’ love of liberty, is about to become a latter day slave state. With a bit of luck and the wind in the right direction, Lola and I will be in Austin before civilian disarmament becomes the deal of the day. Shame . . .

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76 COMMENTS

        • Nope, you just have to sweat, clean up after hurricanes, and survive among retirees on the road and the sorts of Floriduh types who populate the Oddly Enough section of news sites..

          And I would not hold out much hope for NH, its infection by pinko Massholes is near terminal and shows no signs of slowing.

    • That and the fact that if Texas is anything like Georgia you’ll be sick of hearing Yankee jokes about seven minutes after you arrive.

      • Come to Jacksonville Florida. Really cheap housing market…even ocean front, no state income taxes, same gun laws as Texas (although we had stand your ground first), and 2 Navy bases, which pretty much kills the Yankee jokes since we have so many of them in town. Plus, we have the World Golf Hall of Fame and the golf courses that go with it, and ATTAC in St Augustine 😉

        • Ditto that.

          And relatively speaking there are few Northeast transplants bringing their anti-American progressive politics with them — folks who’ve ruined much of south Florida (e.g., Debbie Wasserman-Schultz) — just as they’ve done to Colorado, Vermont and are in the process of doing to Arizona and New Hampshire.

          That’s why there’s a saying in Florida: “The further north you go, the further south you get.”

        • I am a member at ATTAC 🙂

          I would probably warn gun guys against choosing Florida as the gun haven destination. He have just as many south floridians itching to give away the rights of all of us. Florida is a split state and you never know which way it will split.

          And, consequently, that is the only time I use the word Yankee disparagingly, in reference to those who would make us the liberal paradise they had in NY, NJ, MA or CT. When the housing market hit some of Florida harder than everywhere else in the nation (save for Nevada), northerners were buying up cheap vacation homes at 60% off previous values.

        • Not to knock the nice weather & taxes etc, we know what stand your ground means in Florida though & its not pretty, Randy

    • Oh, there’s air conditioning for that; but Austin has some of the worst pollen woes in the United States, if you’re a sufferer like me. I’ve gathered the off-season for pollen is Dec.-Feb. and July-Aug. Something like that.

      It’s bad enough here in Virginia, especially with Cedar and Maple, ragweed in fall… when I moved to NM I thought I was free. I forgot about all the prairie grasses that found their way from the high plains over the Sangre de Cristos. Common vegetation: sagebrush, rabbit brush and grasses, grasses, grasses. Same as basically about ten states out western way.

      Only different.

  1. I’be been corresponding with my representative about this, and he doesn’t believe it is a done deal. There is apparently a fair bit resistance in the assembly. Either way, I just have to deal with it until the already-planned move to NH happens in a few years.

  2. robert, you do know that austin it saturated with liberals ..right? it’s the only part of texas that is blue….your not one of thoes blue guys are you?….

    • While Austin is liberal (for Texas), it really isn’t like the N.E. And, drive 20 miles any direction you hit solid red.

      • You are right. I visited Austin several times. Each time I was advised that Austin was as progressive as Portland OR. I soon realized that these people have little clue how progressive other cities are. Here’s an example, if Austin were as progressive as Portland, 6th street would have already been regulated out of existence.

      • Agree. So far at least, Austin has a healthy mix whose lowest common denominator is a relaxed libertarianism, and you get the benefits of culture, arts and cuisine without much shrill pinko bullshit. Me, I live in an unincorporated rural burb with no HOA, but there’s still room for all stripes here.

    • Easy fix… Georgetown: 30 minutes north on I-35. Just finished the TX CHL Instructor course there. Doesn’t get any redder! Welcome to Texas! Glad to have you!

      • G-town has HOAs and prohibits shooting on your own property I believe. Plus, I-35. I’d say maybe Elgin, Wyldwood or even Dale/Red Rock if you can get broadband round those parts. My friend has family in Wimberley, though that’s a bit pricey and has a bit more of an attitude (though its real pretty, reminiscent of the MA Berkshires)

  3. Avoid Houston. Houston Sucks. The weather sucks, city, traffic and anything else you can think of. It is just an awful place. Austin or Dallas. That’s it in Texas. No reason to go anywhere else.

    • San Antonio’s traffic isn’t as bad as Austin’s and Dallas’, and it’s closer to the coast and to far West Texas, where we go to cool off. SA is a big party and military town.

      • There’s always Lubbock, where Jimmie Dale Gilmore says on a clear day you can see the back of your own head.

        I find it hard to live without MOUNTAINS. Here in metro Richmond I can’t even see a HORIZON. Makes me nervous, restless.

        • Lubbock? Shoot me now. San Antonio? No culture and football team. I get it, it has the Alamo.

    • Native Texan here, and I find it odd that you list all the areas I prefer to avoid. Your missing out on a great many things if you’re only interest in Texas is it’s cities. In my opinion, our large cities are the worst parts of our state.

  4. The forces of tyranny, oppression and enslavement on the move; it truly is bizarre; Hitler and his SS troops also thought they were fighting the good fight against the bad guys.

    History will look back on the progressive/socialist movement as one of the most evil of belief systems ever on this planet. Over two hundred million murdered on the altar of “social justice” in the last hundred years and counting.

    • +1000

      Providence is already bankrupt beyond repair with zero possibility of paying its pension obligations — ever! Once the entire state goes completely bankrupt, CT will fight for the land rights to expand its tax base because that will be plan to prevent CT from sinking further into debt once more companies move out.

      It is just a matter of time and the way liberals think, also “perfectly logical” and “common sense”

    • Ditto that too. Left some years ago, and the only regrets that my wife and I have is that we didn’t do it much, much sooner.

      Corrupt and has been solid Democrat since FDR, i.e., the overwhelming majority of the population is comprised of dumbed-down, “low information” voters — which the Democrats keep replenishing by making sure that the welfare system keeps attracting “clients” from other states. Their “economic development” model is to import welfare recipients and export college graduates seeking opportunity (which RI’s anti-business policies suppress).

    • Maybe per-capita or sq mile, but Florida is pretty god damned dumb. Hell, Florida dumbness is its own literary genre.

  5. While Austin is definitely on the liberal side, there is a solid libertarian streak as well. We’re happy to have you. I’ve been in Central Texas since 2001 and Austin since 2005, and I’ve never regretted it. Though, I do miss the weather of my native San Diego.

  6. Welcome to Austin. I’ll concede…you’ll deal with 3 months of brutal weather, but the balance is great. We do get a series of cold snaps during January and February, but they typically last 2-3 days before before it warms up again.

    As for liberals…haven’t run into many anti-gun types. Our liberals are “tree huggers”. At least their energies are spent pursuing some common good. Lots of green space and clean water, unlike Houston and Dallas who want to pave every square inch and throw up a big box store.

    Oh forgot to mention, lots of anti big box and chain store sentiment down here. We like to support our local businesses.

    • Those guys are so fighting the last war. Wal-Mart and Target will survive as the modern day general stores, but Best Buy and the others will fall to Amazon.

    • Yeah, there were some rumblings about banning gun shows but they got batted down fairly quickly. There is a pinko contingent but they’re balanced out by a redneck contingent and the rest just typically mind heir own beeswax.

  7. Move to Virginia. As much as Fairfax County and its two cities would like to be a slave state, we have NRA HQ and even a few open carriers.

  8. Austin IS liberal…as liberal as TEXAS gets…which ain’t bad at all. Besides…the ALAMO still stands. Don’t Mess With Texas…..

  9. How bout Ennis,Texas (where I currently reside) or Waxahachie,Tx?? nice,friendly country towns ..and both less than an hours drive from Dallas.

  10. Central Texas welcomes you with open arms. We recently moved from Austin to “just outside” Austin. The commute is the same, and it’s nice to live in a relatively rural area that’s only 15 mins from the city.

    Make sure you set aside a good $500 for CHL classes and licensing for you and your spouse.

  11. Corpus Christi is nice, I haven’t met anyone that doesn’t own at least one gun. All the javelinas you have ammo for.

  12. You need to teach your daughter some manners before you bring her down South. Children who swear at their elders down here tend to get their faces smacked.

  13. I’ll say it again and again. I simply don’t get how TX is held up as the model for gun rights when open carry is not allowed. Also, looking at the hoops people have to jump through to even get a carry license makes me even more baffled. Wait, there’s more! Posted signs prohibiting firearms on private property carry legal weight.

    Tell me again why TX is so great?

    • I think it depends on the individual. Gun rights are a huge factor in deciding where to live, but there’s a hundred other factors to take into account as well. For me, Texas is the total package.

      • Signs against concealed carry are worthless and not legal unless they cite 30.06. If you don’t see 30.06 on the sign, and it’s a public area, laugh it off and keep carrying. I don’t get what you mean by jumping through hoops to get a CHL. Take a course, pay the money, send it in to DPS, and, assuming you have a clean record, wait 90 days for your license.

        • Everything you listed are the hoops I’m talking about. Having to take pay for a class and then waiting 90 days for the license to me is excessive. I know, it’s all relative. I live in GA where there are no training class requirements and most people I’ve talked to got their license within 2 weeks of application (I got mine in 5 days).

    • The EXPENSE – that’s a MAJOR hoop in my book! WTF? Not like that in VA. I haven’t looked at the cost of CCL classes, but I doubt they’re that much. Open carry has always been legal, and some counties have bar carry too now. I don’t see THAT much open carry – I put that on consideration of the newcomers’ sensibilities as much as anything. You’d likely get the police called if you open-carried into a bank (!) or a Walmart, but it’s just a hassle, nothing more. Once a place gets used to seeing you open-carry, it’s fine.
      I’m thinking of starting up myself. I usually have a cane and about four pocketknives, but the bigger ones are probably over local ordinance size, and I could get in more trouble for that than open carry.

    • Iv’e often wondered this myself. There was a study of the most gun friendly states and Texas wasn’t even in the top 10, they are actually ranked number 15. Kentucky, Utah, Alaska, Vermont, and Arizona are the top 5 states. With illegal immigration and progressives leaving the states they have already screwed up behind Texas is bound to drop in those ratings. They already have crazy representatives that attempt to pass stupid laws, fortunately they don’t have the numbers to pass them, YET. I say in 10 years Texas will be in the same boat as Colorado is in today. If I were thinking about moving I would choose a lot more wisely.

      Also, Texas is too flat. I love the mountains and you will not find them in that state. That’s why thousands of Texans come to NM and other states for vacations. Hunting, skiing, camping etc…

      Source: http://www.gunsandammo.com/2013/03/14/ga-ranks-the-best-states-for-gun-owners-in-2013/

      • Washington state is ludicrously underrated on that list. We have shall-issue CCW, which costs just over $50 and has no training requirement, open carry, state preemption, no restrictions on magazines, and strong self defense laws. Also, somehow Washington gets dinged for having to swat down an obnoxious AWB attempt, but Oregon isn’t. Completely wacky.

  14. Open Carry is currently pending a vote in the Texas Legislature. It stands a good chance of passing this time.
    Austin is waaayyy too liberal. Houston is a hell-hole. East Texas is nice however… Good fishing lakes (Rayburn, Fork, Livingston, Nacogdoches), good river bottoms for hunting (Angelina and Neches), plenty of FFL guys too.

  15. yep, they all can collectively pat themselves on that back and say ‘we did something’…. of course when it fails to reduce crimes or mass shootings, they will all collectively say ‘we did not do enough, we need more laws’…. this will be an cycle for democrats and their drones who follow them, until they pass enough laws to make gun ownership far too expensive. At the end, you will have gun states and non-gun states, like red states and blue states. Soon even Texas will be a blue state and will have gun laws like NY

      • The problem is that you “real Texans” are being out bred by illegal hispanics; and the “progressives” have targeted Texas with the long range goal of turning Texas into a blue state. Face it, there’s no place in the United States that hasn’t been, or isn’t going to be, infected by the cancer of liberalism.

        Liberals want to cow us into submission, or criminalize us, or incarcerate us, and if all else fails they’ll kill us. Liberalism is a religion not a political philosophy and just like radical muslims they won’t tolerate anyone who doesn’t agree with them.

  16. People keep skipping over Kentucky. Is there a reason for that? We accept anyone’s valid CCW here and the Louivsille area is all the civilization you would ever want.

    • Short of the Constitutional Carry states, Kentucky has the best gun laws in the nation. Open carry with no license, no waiting periods, you can carry loaded in your vehicle with no license. We also have state level preemption, so the communists in Louisville and Lexington can’t pass their own laws.

      • Exactly. The state preemption law has legal teeth. Local jurisdictions can actually be prosecuted for trying to preempt state gun laws. There is also a good parking lot storage law where employers can be prosecuted for even hinting at denying their employees right to store their firearms in their own vehicle while at work. Also, the futile “no gun” signs people put on their doors don’t carry force of law. Furthermore, you can’t be prosecuted for carrying in your vehicle while dropping the kiddo off at school.

        Those are a few of the benefits. The economic situation is fairly reasonable. I’ve seen better but it’s no where near the disaster of any of the blue states. We even wear shoes here now. There is plenty of opportunity to be had in the central Kentucky area from Louisville, to Lexington, to Elizabethtown.

    • Kentucky and Tennessee have a variety of places to live in, some good and bad. The state finances are always a concern, that directly impacts taxes and job opportunities. As far as RKBA it’s as good as can be expected.
      The real boogeyman is the Federal government. They get to trump everyone.

    • No, it’s for Liberty.

      Loss of gun rights are a leading indicator of loss of liberty. Raising your children in a slave state may be convenient for you but some of us have higher hopes for our kids.

    • +1000. Bama is a great state, a RKBA state and you get the additional benefit of cheering for next year’s NCAA Football National Champion – Roll Tide!

  17. RF, I have wondered for some time how you could have stayed in RI this long. I’m in DE at the moment and while a few silly new rules came into being they haven’t gone off the deep end yet.
    Moving is tough, expensive, troubling and sometimes necessary. As long as we can vote with our feet for another state with rules we can live with we will always have an advantage over the UK, Europe, or anywhere else where people have nowhere to run.

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